Blame John Holgate

Everyone agreed. Galiana is spectacular, but tough. But, it was a strange welcome. No clubhouse, just an outside kiosk and portaloos. A buggy had caught fire while parked and garaged, rendering the clubhouse unusable. Something else, or rather somebody, would soon be on fire.

It was, surprisingly, a bit cool and cloudy. Still, we thought that would be for the better. Would we escape the rain though?? No, was the answer to that question, we didn't. It wasn't proper Spanish rain, but it was enough to get us all soggy. So, who was on fire?? Mr Ben.

Here's a summary of the results:

Winners

Overall.

Ben Wilcock - 42 points.

Division 1.

Winner. Ben Wilcock - 42 points.

Runner Up. Dave Smith - 40 points.

Division 2.

Winner. Chrissie Banstead - 32 points.

Runner Up. John Holgate - 31 points.

No winners amongst this lot, but still enjoying themselves.

NP's

Hole 3. Wayne Stallings' tee-shot hit the NP marker on the green. His ball cannoned off it towards the hole, and finished about a foot from it. Howdy y'all. Birdie?? Lucky birdie.

Hole 15. Mick Callanan hit his tee shot on the bank down the right side. He had about135 yards to go with his second shot and it was an uphill lie. No problem. On the green about 10 yards to the right.

Mr Ben, unfortunately, was about 12 yards to the left. Even more unfortunately, your Poster Boy was only 5 yards from the flag, but one foot off the green!

LBS

Everyone seems to have forgotten that this course holds the record for the number of balls lost. 134. Most people were in the range 48 to 75. How Viv got on there with 43 we will never know. One Member went really high but more on that later. Mick, The Algorithm, Callanan worked out 79. And instead of going right next to him, Andy Price left a gap, and selected 81. Mind the gap. 80 was the right number. €32 rolls over to Oliva.

 CBKO

There were three round of 16 matches played on the day.

Game 3. Mick Callanan v Gary Stone.

Close game. Mick was 1 up on the 18th tee. Both scored 7 on the last but Mick had a shot. A win for Mick 2 up. He will play Craig Longstaff in the next round.

Game 4. Lennox Boyd v Craig Longstaff

These guys came in with no idea of their final score. When asked why that could be, we got, "too difficult", "too tired", "ran out of steam". To be fair, their paper card had almost disintegrated with the rain. We didn't have the time, or the inclination, to work it out for them then and there, so our Comp. Sec, said he would do it first thing next day. True to his word, he worked it out. Both players scored 9 on the last, and were glad to get it over with. Craig (21 shot) Longstaff had two shots on that hole so a win for Craig by 1. Given Lennox was giving away 21 shots, didn't he do well to be a/s coming down the last!

Game 8. Wayne Stallings v Pankaj Bakshi. The replay from La Sella.

Fresh from competing in some semi-professional tournament, Wayne was hardened to competitive stress this time. A win for Wayne 6&4. He will play your Poster Boy in the next round. He's coming to get ya!

Full Results and Handicaps

Full results are available to view in your electronic scorecard. Go to Ranking, bottom left. You can select Overall, Division 1 or Division 2. Or, If you are Spanish Federated, you can see full results in the Golf Directo App if you have it. Go to the Competition, select Results, select same options. Or select Tournaments ~ Official.

Latest handicaps can be viewed in the RFEG App (this also includes your playing history), or in the Golf Directo App.

The Hotel

We see the swanky looking hotel as we go up the first fairway. It looks impressive, but it's a bit like Siberia. Everyone know where it is, but nobody wants to go there. However, on this occasion, we did go there. We had our post match banter and presentation in the lounge area, looking out over the valley. Nice. Here are four things we discovered:

• guests play worse then members at this course. Ian Watts (23pts) and Richard Walsh (15pts) finished 20th and 23rd respectively.

• our lost ball sweep form was tested, and it passed. The selection range is 15 to 92. Casper Moerbeek was having none of it and added, manually, 110 and 115. The number lost was 80, well within the range. Tick.

• the glass windows and doors from the lounge to the terrace are solid.

• the pretty Spanish girls behind the bar serve real nice ice-packs.

I blame Joh Holgate

Coming Up.

Pairs Scramble at Levante. Wednesday 8th July.

Now on the App. RSVP asap.

• Winners take all. Guaranteed prize of €150 for the winning pair.

• Pairs will be selected by our Comp. Sec, when all players known.

• 35%/15% of playing handicaps.

• minimum number of drives per player - 6

End of Year Awards Lunch. Saturday 28th November.

Proposed event details now on the App. We are looking to guage interest in a change of venue, and a change from dinner to lunch, for our end of year awards get together. We are proposing restaurant Ca la iaia on the Moraira-Teulada road.

We would like a quick response from all members. Go to the App and the Events page. Click on the 2026 End of Year Awards Lunch. On the Event Details page, read About the event (click "show more" for all the information). Then click the Discussion tab, where you will see a quick yes/no poll. Don't worry, this is not a commitment, just an indication at this stage. Just click one of the three options likely to apply to you.

We have 57 members with the app in total of which around 50 are active one way or another, so we should be getting around 50 yes/no responses. It would be very helpful if you could indicate your preference right away. Thanks in advance.

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Our next game is at Oliva on Wednesday 24th June. Registration and Payment, via GolfDirecto, is open now. It closes on Sunday 21st June at 17.00. Please register as soon as you can. This will help our Competitions Secretary immensely, and it will save us having to chase or remind, bothering you, bothering us! Thanks in advance.

As ever, this game will be sponsored by Blevins Franks, International Tax and Wealth Management. venessa.shepherd@blevinsfranks.com